


Control

by Fuhadeza



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-08 01:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4286076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuhadeza/pseuds/Fuhadeza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asami is a perfectionist. Asami is always in control. Most importantly, Asami does not lose. And most certainly, Asami does not lose to young upstarts with only a vague acquaintance with the concept of personal safety.</p><p>Based on the 1976 F1 Championship season. (I assure you this fact is as mistifying to me as it is to you.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Control

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this the other day as a prologue, but it stands pretty well on its own so I thought I'd put it up now. To be continued, but not necessarily immediately.

### Prologue

Some of her competitors say they think of their car as an extension of their body. That they lose themselves in the moment, expunge that line between flesh and machine. They can’t possibly crash, they say—whoever heard of anyone crashing their own body?

Asami doesn’t think that’s possible. She spares a little pity for the day they lose control of those coveted instincts and drive into a barrier at a hundred miles per hour. She hopes they make it out in one piece.

Bodies do unexpected things. Bodies break down without warning. Bodies are not well designed. Why should she wish for a car that was a mere extension of her body? Asami only drives what she designs. She knows her cars: knows they are superior to human flesh. She feels every minute detail of the interface between her and the machine; she feels the unnatural thrum of it, the speed where there should not be speed.

A driver can get so far, on instinct alone. A fluke run of luck mid-season; the surge of giddy triumph; but eventually, the crash; sometimes, inevitably, the burn. Championships are not won on mid-season runs of luck. They are not won on instinct, or pure natural skill. When Asami drives, she is in control. That is the magic of her art: taking several tonnes of unyielding metal around a track dozens of times, faster than anything else in the world, and making it safe. Control does not rely on luck; control does not come and go with the changing weather. Control is how she wins.

Asami has always known she is the best in the world at what she does. But in this moment—as she steps onto the podium in front of a faceless, cheering crowd—in this moment she fathoms the difference between knowing something, and knowing that the whole world knows it too.

*

Halfway around the world Korra is winning her first major race. The crowds are smaller, the stakes lower. Her car is practically home-made. But as she shoves her helmet on she sees, in that second before her peripheral vision vanishes, the only spectators who really matter. Two women and one man, standing non-descript just beyond the barriers. They represent a company interested in sponsoring an up-and-coming young talent. They represent the money she needs.

She will drive. She will win. Afterwards they will come up to her. Two days later she will sign a contract. A week after that she will leave her home, and the next time she returns she will be world champion. She knows all this with the unshakable, unquestioning faith of someone who has never known what it is to lose.

Afterwards a local reporter asks what her secret is. Korra smiles, the blinding flash of the camera reflecting her prescient, all-encompassing confidence. Well, she says, it’s simple. When I drive, I’m one with the car. How can I possibly lose when the car is an extension of my own body?

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I am attempting to corner the incredibly niche AU market.
> 
> I can't guarantee this will update particularly frequently, but I do quite like the concept so I think I will finish it eventually. :D Let me know what you thought of this beginning!


End file.
